When it comes to being charged with a criminal offence, it is up to the police to initiate the charges.
The police investigate and assess whether they have sufficient evidence to inform the crown counsel that a charge is being laid against you. If the police forward the evidence to crown counsel, they review the police report and the investigation.
Crown counsel uses a charge assessment guideline policy when deciding whether to charge you with a criminal offence. This is not an arbitrary decision.
In order to assess whether the charges will be moving forward, the crown counsel asks two fundamental questions.
Firstly, is this strong enough to present in court? In other words, is there sufficient evidence for this case? And, secondly, if the case is solid enough to present in court, is it in the public interest to proceed with the charges and take the matter to court?
If there are individuals who have been harmed, victims, as a result of the offence, these are factors that the crown counsel considers when pursuing the charges in court.